"Magical Island where dreams come true"

One of the reasons I still collect Thomas trains.

I mentioned before in posts that my love of trains came from my Nana and Papa and that growing up the three of us along with my little brother, even if he tries to deny it now, fell in love with a magical island of the coast of England named Sodor.  Sodor, for those of you that don't know, is the home of the North Western Railway. A major rail network that connects to almost every part of the island. There are many famous engines that run on this railway but the most famous is a little blue tank engine named Thomas.

I have mentioned Thomas and his friends before when talking about my club at Masonic but it doesn't fully explain what this little engine means to me and my family. The stories of Thomas and Friends help strengthen my love of  trains and its one thing that I will always have to help me remember my Papa.  Years later I realized that I wasn't the only one that had this similar connection the brand and the world they created. But first a little back story...

My brother has autism. He sometimes isn't very social and sometimes stays in his own head. But what he sometimes lacks in social skill he more than doubles in brain power. The kid is going to be the next professor at Yale or Harvard. He loves history, video games, and above all else Starwars. But one thing I have noticed with him is that he will always fall back to little Island that we shared with our Papa. I mention his autism because as I got older and started working with kids similar to my brother I noticed that a lot of them shared this passion for the trains as well. During my research around this I found out that there a a lot of people with autistic tendency that have a love for trains and majority of the time Thomas included even when they are much much older. People that have autism like schedules, order and familiarity.  Railroads have all of these traits as well and its no surprise that there is sometimes a strong connection between the two. For example in the Thomas show; Thomas always works on his branch line and always is pulling his two coaches. This happens like clockwork and fans of the show will tell you that when this gets changed or interrupted is almost always causes confusion and delay!!

The best part was learning that the company that now owns Thomas realized this connection as well and are big supporters of those with autism. This is another reason why I wanted to collect the HO scale models of the Thomas character and run them for the visitors to the clubs layout. It always makes me smile when I see a guests face light up when they see them running around the tracks and having the fan name all of the characters and references I hid in the layout, normally while the parent looks at me baffled that I know them all as well.   But this allows me to have conversations with these kids and help break them out of their shells sometimes.  I have been told by parents time and time again how they are amazed how much their child is talking in public. All thanks to this little blue train that helps bring so much joy into this world.

I still have all of my Thomas models and still get to share them with families at special holidays at my old club and at special local train shows I also work on some Thomas related model train projects that you might see here from time to time. Let me know below If you or someone you know grew up with Thomas and if you have a story similar to mine here. Until my next post see you real soon!

Changing of the Guard - Masonicare to Friends of the Valley Railroad Part 3

Part 3 - Finding New "Friends"

Many years ago back when I was living with my Nana and Papa another fun summer trip we would occasionally go to was a local tourist railroad located in Essex, CT. The Connecticut Valley Railroad or known today as The Essex Steam Train and Riverboat. Essex has always been a favorite place for me, my little brother (when he was younger) and my Nana and Papa. There is a bit of magic in that railroad that just makes me feel relaxed and happy. I think a major part of  it is that connection to my Nana and Papa. This picture sums it up better than anything I could ever write.

Anyways as I said in my last post I was looking for something the fill the hole left after having to take a step back from my volunteering days at the Train Room. I had always seen advertisements and signs for the volunteer group at Essex but I never had the time or means of getting there to really inquire about it until now. So during the last months of my college life I sent an email to the group asking how do I join or at least get more information about the groups goals and work. I as invited to come down to the engine house at Essex on a Wednesday night. I thought it was just going to be a introduction and tour of the shop and maybe a interview like process to see if I was able to join. Well I had my tour and introductions for about the first hour and for the next two I was under one of the dining cars helping them fix the wheels. I knew then I had found what would become my new group and my new friends.

Over a year now we come to today where I have helped the railroad out in almost every thing they have to offer. I have worked on passenger and freight cars, track work, steam and diesel engines, etc. It has been an amazing experience and I am so grateful to everyone that I have met there and all of the advice they have given me. It has become like a second home to me and is something that I hope to be apart of for years to come. During this blog you will probably see me mention the friends a lot as they have also been a major inspiration for a lot of modeling projects I am going to try my hand at. And if you are interested in learning more about the FVRR and what we do check out these links below. The Friends are always welcoming new faces; come down and see us at the station and give us a hand in the shop. I hope to see you along the valley line.

Friends of the Valley Website - The Friend's Website with Sign up information
Essex Steam Train Website - Come for a ride on the Train and Boat
I Like the Valley Railroad - Facebook group with photos and history of the Valley line
FVRR Facebook Page - Updates and pictures from our shop nights

Changing of the Guard - Masonicare to Friends of the Valley Railroad Part 2

Part 2 - My 10 years at the Train Room.

My involvement with the Masonicare Railroad Room or as we call it, the Train Room started the same was as most all of my railroad related activities; my Nana and Papa. At a very young age I fell in love with Railroads and 9.5/10 it involved my grandparent's, Nana and Papa's, help. When I was younger I spent a lot of time with them even living with them for a year while my family was in the process of moving. Now my Papa was a TV electrician and had a strong love for airplanes and building models of them. That quickly changed when I came around. After finding out I took a liking to trains and with the help of a little blue tank engine by Papa switched everything to trains. Some of the best memories that I have is waking up at their house, having Nana making Mickey shaped pancakes and us all sitting down in time to watch one episode of "Shinning Time Station" before Papa would drive me to Pre-School. Fallowed by coming back home to them and playing toy trains for hours only taking a break to eat and to watch the occasional Amtrak roar up the Springfield line. Nana's house is on a hill overlooking the tracks in her backyard and had a large back porch with a wall of windows. even today when I'm over her house I will run to the window every time I hear the train whistle blowing.

One of the biggest treats at this time was during the summer when Nana and Papa would load up the car and take me to visit a local train attraction, the Train Room. It was always amazing and it was just one of the special things that I got to share in my life with them and is another reason why the Train Room is so dear to me. Fast forwards to the end of my middle school life. I am just about to start High School and I'm required to complete 30 hours of volunteer service over the next 4 years. I looked around until someone asked if I was interested in volunteering at Masonicare. I signed up and worked a summer in the rehab and recreation departments with one of my cousins. But there was always this itch to ask if I could go work with the Train Guys. When I asked the head of volunteering was confused; " No one has ever asked to work up there, and its wouldn't be up to me you will have to ask the guys". We walked up to the room and she introduced me to them and asked if they were even interested in letting me help out. As if it was fate, once they heard my name they all asked me, " Were you the little guy that came in with your grandparents almost every week?" Long story short it wasn't very long until I was a part of the team and for 10 years that's where I spent Thursdays during my summers. 

N-scale Layout back in 2008

Model of the Masonicare building on the layout

As the youngest of the guys; me at 24 and the next youngest at over 65, I worked under the tables and helping move stuff around but it was great because I learned so much from these guys and not just about model trains. I love them all and even though we have lost a few in recent years, the time I spent with them has helped me become who I am today and I am forever grateful to them. I managed to work there during school breaks and even working out a bit of time during my college days. I was the go to guy when we would get daycare groups and families with small kids because still being a kid at heart I became known as the guys put it, " The world's most renown expert on Thomas". I would bring in my collection of HO scale Bachmann Thomas and Friends characters and the kids would go insane. The parents would always tell me how excited their kids where knowing their favorite characters were running on the layout and that always put a smile on our faces. The layout wasn't for us to play with; its was for them and anyone else that walked through the door.

Some of the Thomas Characters I bring to the layout

With starting my new job in the past year I haven't been able to make our regular open houses on Thursdays. I do come back here and there as time allows me and on special weekends around the holidays, but I do miss it greatly. I stay in touch with the guys and I sure as heck advertise the room as much as I can. But I had to admit without the train room apart of my regular life anymore I wanted to look and see if I could find a new railroad related club or group I could join to help fill that hole. When looking I around I went to talk to my Nana and during this talk I remembered something that I was always curious about; but for the last 10 years I never had the funds or transportation to get there.....I took another look at google maps and what do you know!! Its only 10 exits down the highway from my new job.....

Changing of the Guard - Masonicare to Friends of the Valley Railroad Part 1

Part 1 - History of the Masonicare Model Railroad Room

A little over a year now my life came to a bit of a cross roads. I was about the graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and had a wonderful opportunity for my college internship becoming my first job in my field of study. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity as I considered myself very lucky to have this job in relation to some of my fellow engineering student that were still looking for internships options at this time. Although as I was about to start the next chapter in my life it mean that one very important part was coming to an end.

For the last 10 years of my life I have been a member of a small model railroading "club". I say "club" because in reality it was just a small group of guys that would give up their Thursdays to open up a room in a local Retirement Village/Healthcare Facility. Located in my home town of Wallingford, CT there is a healthcare facility called Masonicare Healthcare Center and on the 3rd floor towards the back of the building is a small room that is filled to bursting with model train and home to 2 fully operation layouts.  It started as of this post around 35+ years ago when a bunch of resident, that all happened to be ex-railroaders wanted a place to set up a train set.

Our sign we put up in the Lobby

Originally the layout was sheets of plywood painted green with brass snap track tacked down with little to no scenery on it. It was primarily HO scale but had small sections of S and O gauge as well. it was a unorganized mess of scales and trains laying all over the table.  About 30 years ago as the original club members where passing the torch to the next generation it was decided that they should focus in on one scale, HO, and to create a larger layout with fully scenic sections and working blocks to control multiple trains and yards with multiple operators. From this point on the layout as continually worked on by our crew of volunteers we have added bridges, tunnels, and sidings. (oh my!) During this time a few members branched off and created a equally impressive but smaller N scale layout. As I have learned from one of the long term members and a now a close family friend told me. "A layout is never finished, It you find yourself calling your layout complete and there isn't anything else to change or do. Then its time to find another hobby. Model Railroading is never finished" and do you know what. He was 1000% right.

Here are some photos of the rooms HO scale layout.

HO-scale roundhouse showing some of the many engines we run

Picture of almost the entire HO scale layout